The potential of quinoxaline derivatives as Chemosensors: A review

[Display omitted] •Quinoxaline derivatives have demonstrated ability to detect neutral compounds, cations, and anions.•The derivatives works by complexation, hydrogen bonding, anion coordination, and anionic interactions.•Solvent selection has a vital impact on the chemosensor’s solubility in the recognition mechanism.•The quality of quinoxaline chemosensor is improved by appending signaling and recognition units to it. The identification and quantification of different pollutants in aquatic and biological systems with chemosensors have received a lot of attention in analytical chemistry. Chemosensors are becoming more and more popular due to their benefits, which include excellent selectivity and sensitivity, low cost, ease of use, simpler equipment, and quick turnaround times. Additionally, quinoxaline-based derivatives possess excellent photophysical properties among other heterocyclic compounds, and therefore have been deployed in chemosensors for colorimetric and fluorimetric detection of various chemical species. This review summarizes literature from 2018 to 2024, focusing on quinoxaline derivatives used to detect cations, anions, and neutral small molecules. The highlights on an overview of a chemosensor, the structure of analyte recognition unit, recognition mechanism, detection limits, binding stoichiometry, and formation constants are clearly delineated. Practical applications of these chemosensors in solution or solid phases are also discussed. Researchers can use this information to develop effective, sensitive, and selective chemosensors utilizing quinoxaline derivatives for the analysis of cations, anions, and neutral molecules under physiological, organic and aqueous settings.